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Backhouse, James 2011, James Backhouse Correspondence 1831-1838 Index: Royal Society Collection, Royal Society of Tasmania, University of Tasmania Library Special and Rare Materials Collection, Australia.

Abstract

James Backhouse Correspondence1831 - 1838RS.58James Backhouse (1794-1869) was a Quaker missionary, of Darlington,and later, York, England. In 1831 he sailed for Australia, accompaniedby George Washington Walker (1800-1859), with the financial supportof the London Yearly Meeting. They arrived in Hobart in February1832 and from then until their departure from Australia in 1838they visited most of the scattered settlements throughout Australia.They spent three years in Van Diemens Land where they visited thepenal settlements, reported to Lieut.-Governor Arthur on conditionsand made suggestions for improvement of the prisons, chain gangs,assigned servants etc. They also encouraged the formation of benevolentservices, such as the Ladies Committees for visiting prisoners onElizabeth Fry's model, inspected hospitals and recommended humanetreatment for the insane, as well as distributing religious tractsand school books. In 1833 they established a Monthly Meeting of theSociety of Friends in Hobart and in 1834 the Hobart Yearly Meeting.In 1837 they bought property for a Meeting House in Hobart. JamesBackhouse also collected many botanical specimens and continued tocorrespond with the Tasmanian Society and the Royal Society. Afterhis return to England, Backhouse published an account of his journeysas A Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies (London, 1843)(See Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 1.)The correspondence consists of letters addressed to James Backhouseand his companion relating to their missionary journey. Most arefrom people in official positions thanking the missionaries for theirwork, acknowledging books and reports, replying to requests forinformation or offering int~oductions, help and hospitality and alsosome discussion of religious matters and references to botany inwhich J.B. was interested. A later letter of 1844 acknowledgesBackhouse's gift of his book to the Tasmanian Society.The letters were kept by the Backhouse family until 1933 when agrandson of James Backhouse, A.J. Crosfield, presented letters ofAustralian interest to the Royal Society of Tasmania through ErnestE. Unwin, headmaster of the Friends' School, Hobart. With them werea few other letters not connected with James Backhouse but of the sameperiod and also of Australian interest. These (numbers 29-37) aremainly addressed to John Gould and refer to his study of Australianbirds. It is unlikely that they were ever in the possession of JamesBackhouse who died some years before Gould, but they were probably collected by a younger member of the family. Apart from their interestin connection with John Gould and ornithology, many are signed by orinclude references to well known explorers. Many of the letters beara pencil note in a later hand identifying the writer, often by aposition or title received some years after the date of the letter.About the time of their presentation to the Society the manuscriptswere professionally guarded on to mounting paper and bound into avolume entitled "Autograph Letters". At the front, typed directlyon to the mounting paper, is a list of the letters, probably copied bythe binder from a handwritten draft as it contains a number of misreadings,such as Bushy for Busby, Benk for Back, Hirst for Stirt, Jawler forGawler, etc. Also typed on to the mounting paper is an "introduction"by Mr. Unwin:-The letters contained herein are original autograph letterswhich have been preserved by the family of James Backhouse.They came into the possession of Albert J. Crosfield ofCambridge, England, a grandson of James Backhouse, on thedeath of his brother James Backhouse Crosfield, and wereoffered to the Library of the Royal Society of Tasmaniathrough Ernest E. Unwin, Headmaster of the Friend's School,Hobart, who was consulted by Mr. A.J. Crosfield in thematter.Most of the letters are addressed to James Backhouse orto James Backhouse and George Washington Walker fromprominent people in this and mainland states mostlyduring the years 1832 to 1838. There are also a few lettersaddressed to other persons, which were probably collectedby James Backhouse for their autographic value.Ernest E. Unwin.Presented to the Roya1 Society, September 1933. IIOther papers of James Backhouse are in the Friends' Library, London.RS 58